1. COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE A DESCRIPTION OF THE BAND AND YOURSELVES?

The Ethereal is mainly a medium we use to express certain emotions and visions upon the world with the aid of music. As for ourselves, or myself, since it's a solo-project (there is at the moment a session-vocalist involved), there is nothing special to be mentioned, im just a big fan of extreme music and this adoration for this kind of music resulted in starting my own project.

2. WHEN DID THE ETHEREAL FORM AND HOW?

When is not easy to say, since several years i have been playing doom-metal, black-metal and some industrial and noise, but never with the intention of making full tracks or even starting a band, that only happened early this year. And the 'official' start of The Ethereal was in april 2002. The main reason i started this project, was because i actually wanted to make some 'real' songs, instead of just several riffs, forming a band, or in my case, a solo-project was the last step i could take in my adoration for this kind of music, im not just a listener anymore, now i write my own stuff...

3. SHOULD WE BE EXPECTING AN ALBUM FROM YOU SOON?

Yes yes, at the moment i am working on some tracks for a demo, if all goes as planned this demo should be recorded during summer and released shortly there-after, in the meanwhile the first versions of these songs are being uploaded to mp3.com. Other than that there are some vague plans for a split-CD, but we are still working on that...

4. I HAVE NOTICED THAT A LOT OF DOOM METAL SEEMS TO BE VERY SLOW AND NUMBING.WHAT ARE THE FEELINGS THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO GET ACROSS WITH YOUR MUSIC?

So far the emotions i tried to express in my music were pain and desolation. The slow and raw aspect of the music is there because i am convinced that these are the best ways of expressing such feelings. This extreme form of music only helps the listener understand the extreme emotional aspects of it.

5. WHAT DO YOU FEEL WHILE PLAYING YOUR MUSIC?

There are 2 different answers, when playing the music myself (rehearsing or just for the fun of it) i feel the same things that are expressed in the music i am playing at that moment, depending on which song i am playing. When listening to my own music after it has been recorded, preferably trough a headphone, i am reminded of the feelings i had while writing the song itself, almost as if the song tells something about myself, my mood, at the moment of writing, no matter how long ago that was.

6. WHAT IS THE DOOM SCENE LIKE WHERE YOU ARE?

Looking good, keeping in mind that Belgium is a small country with almost no big metal acts. In a very short time i discovered several doom or doom-orientated bands, but as i see it now, i think the scene is very young here and i am sure that it wil continue to grow!

7. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO CREATE DOOM METAL AS COMPARED TO EXAMPLE DEATH OR BLACK, ECT.?

Death-metal is in my opinion not very suitable to express what i wanted. On the other hand, primitive black-metal sometimes comes very close to what i have in mind musically... But actually i didn't really choose a genre from the start, it started as a mix between black, doom and noise/industrial and over time it evolved, the noise and industrial elements dissapeard and it became more and more doom-metal.

8. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE INFLUENCES THAT DRIVE THE ETHEREAL?

Generally the primitive black-metal scene and the extreme doom scene influenced me, or actually convinced me to play and write music myself. Especially the cold, raw and harsh elements of these genres are the things that influenced me in the first place, and these are still present in my music.

9. DO YOU HAVE ANY INFLUENCES OR MENTORS IN THE MUSIC BUISINESS?

There are some bands that really have a certain influence on me, more in an emotional way than in a musical way, it has never been my intention to sound like anybody else, i wanted a sound that was typical for myself. These are also the bands for wich i have most respect, for being different, especially the extreme doom bands Worship, Thergothon, Esoteric, Unholy and Skepticism.

10. ANYTHING ELSE TO ADD?

Yes, death to all the mindless commercial music! Everybody serious about music should support the underground! And here is the URL of my mp3.com page, in case anybody wants to find out what we sound like Mp3.com And thanx to you, Iced, for this interview! And keep up the good work with your site.

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The Ethereal